OUR Russia measures significant losses in education and science after the invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin “managed” to expel hundreds of thousands of highly educated people from the country. “The country has never had such losses,” complains the dean of the Faculty of Economics at Lomonosov University Moscow, Alexander Ausan. According to a well-known economist, it will take at least 7-10 years to compensate for this brain drain, and only if it does not continue.

IT specialists, managers, journalists, professors and scientists are among the professions that have moved abroad. The international academic network “Scientists in Danger” has supported the departure of more than 200 Russian scientists from the country since the beginning of the war, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has allowed six scientists to receive funding in Germany. In addition, thousands of prominent scientists fled on their own, opposing the war or fearing conscription.

Maria Falikman is one of them. She is one of the most famous psychologists in Russia, teaching and doing research at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow until last year. However, in the summer she packed up and moved to the United States. “It was difficult for me to stay in Russia because of the increasing propaganda and ideological pressure,” he told the German News Agency (dpa). Only in her specialty, half of the HSE researchers left the country, she notes.

The war caused a serious shortage of funding, with research spending cut by 30% this year. Professors complain about late payments, getting equipment and lab materials is now much more difficult, and international sanctions have isolated Russian scientists who can neither publish nor refer to the results of their colleagues. Consequently, the lack of academic prospects caused them to leave the country.

The political pressure exerted is another reason for the flight of scientists. HSE Moscow University has been one of the most liberal and leading research institutions in the country since its foundation. However, the new rector named Nikita Anisimov was one of the first scholars to openly support the war in a letter sent to the university, whose critics were fired.

Almost all scientific fields in the country are affected, especially the humanities, as the change in political views is widespread. He who teaches and writes insufficiently patriotically must fear not only for his work, but also for his freedom. Topic groups become taboo, which influences what research is allowed and what is not.

Other disciplines continue to offer the possibility of an apolitical stance, but here, too, there are priorities and risks. The natural sciences were placed at the service of the military. The government is increasingly providing subsidies for equipment-related research projects. In February last year, the President of Russia awarded an employee of a military research institute “for working out the technologies of complex technical devices that ensure the country’s defense capability.”

However, the fear of being branded as a spy is widespread. In 2022, three lawsuits were filed against scientists for allegedly leaking secrets. The secret services arrested the famous physicist Dmitry Kolker, who allegedly revealed state secrets during lectures in China, although their content had previously been verified and approved by the special services. Kolker died a few days after his arrest.

Source: DV